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Ideas and Opinions |4 August 2015

Limited Access to New Hepatitis C Virus Treatment Under State Medicaid Programs

Lauren A. Canary, MPH; R. Monina Klevens, DDS, MPH; Scott D. Holmberg, MD, MPH

Article, Author, and Disclosure Information
Author, Article, and Disclosure Information
This article was published online first at www.annals.org on 30 June 2015.
  • From Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.

    Disclaimer: The findings and conclusions in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Acknowledgment: The authors thank Cecily Campbell, JD, LLM (ORISE Fellow, Division of Viral Hepatitis, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), and the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation at Harvard Law School for providing their expert knowledge of Medicaid law and structure.

    Disclosures: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M15-0320.

    Requests for Single Reprints: Lauren A. Canary, MPH, Division of Viral Hepatitis, National Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mailstop G-37, Atlanta, GA 30329; e-mail, lcanary@cdc.gov.

    Current Author Addresses: Ms. Canary: Division of Viral Hepatitis, National Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mailstop G-37, Atlanta, GA 30329.

    Dr. Klevens: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 12 Corporate Square Boulevard, Atlanta, GA 30329.

    Dr. Holmberg: Division of Viral Hepatitis, Mailstop G-37, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA 30333.

    Author Contributions:Conception and design: L.A. Canary.

    Analysis and interpretation of the data: L.A. Canary, M. Klevens, S.D. Holmberg.

    Drafting of the article: L.A. Canary, S.D. Holmberg.

    Critical revision of the article for important intellectual content: M. Klevens, S.D. Holmberg.

    Final approval of the article: M. Klevens, S.D. Holmberg.

    Obtaining of funding: M. Klevens, S.D. Holmberg.

    Administrative, technical, or logistic support: S.D. Holmberg.

    Collection and assembly of data: L.A. Canary.

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FULL TEXT
The burden of fatal liver disease is increasing in the estimated 3.2 million adults chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the United States (1–3). Sofosbuvir (Sovaldi, Gilead Sciences), which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December 2013, is a new oral HCV treatment that, when combined with other therapies, has a therapeutic efficacy (cure) greater than 90% across the 4 major HCV genotypes, limited adverse effects, and a shorter treatment window (usually 12 weeks) than its interferon-based predecessors (4). However, this drug currently retails at $84 000 per patient, forcing many payers to ration this lifesaving treatment. As such, Medicaid programs, which cover approximately 25% of patients with HCV infection who are hospitalized but have limited budgets, face the challenge of deciding who should receive new, costly treatments (4, 5).
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Canary LA, Klevens RM, Holmberg SD. Limited Access to New Hepatitis C Virus Treatment Under State Medicaid Programs. Ann Intern Med. 2015;163:226–228. doi: 10.7326/M15-0320

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Published: Ann Intern Med. 2015;163(3):226-228.

DOI: 10.7326/M15-0320

53 Citations

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